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Harvey’s deluge reignites debate over developing land on floodplains

Maximo Salazar looks at the rising water in the Addicks Reservoir in west Houston after Hurricane Harvey on Aug. 29. He said he was counting his steps from the lop of the levee to the edge of the water to measure the rise. JAY JANNER / AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Each drop of rain from Hurricane Harvey proved more dangerous than the last, as inch after inch fell across the Houston suburbs that paved over what was once the Katy Prairie.

Harvey’s destructive rains have reignited the debate in Texas’ most populous county over the wisdom of policies that fueled decades of sprawl that provided acres of cheap housing, made developers wealthy but — environmentalists say — left a region prone to flooding even more vulnerable.